The Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India held a meeting with leading multi-national companies, who have substantial R&D presence in India, on 16 July in New Delhi, to position India as a favoured destination for Research & Development (R&D) by MNC’s in India.

The interaction focused on suggestions from nearly 35 multi-national industry leaders from various sectors to address issues and challenges in establishing R&D operations and investments in India. Global best practices were shared to facilitate closer integration with the Indian research and innovation ecosystem. The discussion was chaired by Prof. K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India along with other Government stakeholders, including Department of Science and Technology, NITI Aayog, Ministry of Human Resource Development,Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and was attended by over 70 participants.

The topics covered included deliberations on emerging areas of research and innovation, sharing of data on R&D investments, operational issues and challenges faced by MNCs in India, adoption of best global practices for establishing closer linkages with national R&D institutions and academia, talent development and sourcing, strategic partnerships to bolster R&D in India and integrating with the domestic start-up ecosystem.

The key recommendations from the MNC perspective was to provide a single window support to industries to lessen the operational challenges in enhancing their R&D investments, inter-ministerial policy and programme to enable closer engagement of MNCs in national research and innovation eco-system, regular interaction platform between government and MNCs for scaling up of research and innovation partnerships.

The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, through the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), plays an enabling role in synergizing cross-sectoral collaborations across scientific ministries, research institutions and industry partners to leverage science, technology and innovation for contributing to the knowledge economy and growth of the country.

R&D investment facilitation recommended via single-window support and inter-ministerial coordination to boost industry-research partnerships. MNCs and government stakeholders discussed barriers to establishing and scaling R&D operations in India and recommended practical measures including a single-window support mechanism, an inter-ministerial policy and programme to facilitate industry engagement with national research institutions, and a regular government-industry interaction platform. The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, through PM-STIAC, is positioned to coordinate cross-sector collaborations to strengthen R&D investment, partnerships, talent development and integration with the start-up ecosystem.